Letter to the editor: Members of Jewish community wish to set the record straight

Monday, September 30, 2013 - 9:45 am

On Sept. 19, the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace presented a program at the downtown library with a speaker who proposes a “one-state secular democracy” to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

He is, of course, entitled to that view, although such a solution seems very unrealistic after decades of hostilities. However, this speaker supported his position with gross distortions, not to mention outright lies, about the history of the region. He insisted his version is “fact,” and not revisionist nonsense, despite the fact that it totally contradicts historical records of events at the times they occurred. Even worse, his talk included hate-filled diatribes, again based on flagrant misrepresentations of events of the past 100 years.

Many in the audience were quite appalled at things the speaker said.

Unfortunately, many others, who don’t know the real history, accepted his version as accurate.

We find it extremely discouraging that an organization with “peace” as part of its name and peace as its purported goal would offer this community such a hostile program that does nothing to foster peace, but is in fact the antithesis, promoting antagonism and division. We are sadly disappointed in the Center for Middle East Peace and question its true motivation and agenda.